A Shade of Hope
by emilylouise
Summary: Jack and Kate In a twisted plot controlled by the Others, Jack and Kate end up in captivity as lab rats. Under extreme circumstances and in a desperate last attempt to save each other, they must do the impossible. Unimaginably twisted. End of Season 3.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! I'm Emily-Louise .. and i'm an avid LOST fan. I have been writing FanFiction for about three years now. Started off with some ER, dash of Dawson's Creek and am now totally loving the LOST possibilities! This is the first time i think i have ever posted anything on FF.. though i have been aware of this site for some time.

The first FanFic i am posting today ... has come from Godknows-where. It's mainly **smutt** ... so i appologise for that firstly .. or not actually:) However, i don't want to offend anyone so i should warn you that this fic in particular is rated _STRONG_ for sexual content and adult language.

If you find this sort of thing offensive **please do not read on**. 

Rated: NC17

Second of all: I beg you to **read it from the beginning**, if you are anything like me ... and fancy a bit of smutt ... and read ahead .. well dont!!! I advise you to read this one from the beginning .. to understand what one earth is going on! (again i **appologise for the nature** of this one ... im usually all loved up ... but we'll see where it goes shall we:)

Third of all: Please please please enjoy it! I've always said i write for the people that want to read. And no one else:)

So enjoy, and please review, because that's also why i write! I love to hear what all of you lot thing. It's true when we say the **reviews are what make us write the next chapter** sooner:)

Thanks:)

Emi

note: Set at the end of Season 3 (its been like four days .. and i'm missing it already!) :(

* * *

**A Shade of Hope**

**by Emily Louise**

Chapter 1 

"I'm not your slave." He slams his fists down on the glass, having been so sure he would never be here again.

"Oh but Jack you are." Jack walks away from the eager face, those big beady round eyes glaring through at him, tempting his anger. "It's not what you think Jack." Ben warns him slowly, his voice like a flat tone buzzing in the poisonous air around him. "We're done with favours, with letting you live, like us…"

"You never…" Jack yells, his eyes blazing, his body sweating profusely with an anger that was leaving him exhausted inside.

"Jack." Ben bolted, his nose inches away from pressing up on the glass. "I would like you to meet someone."

"I want you to tell me, _right now_" Jack screams, "what the hell is going on? Where are they, where are they Ben!" Ben ignores his yells of impassioned fear, and turns to the door, leaving Jack alone in the dark aquarium, returned to the place that would forever haunt his fears.

Jack hangs over the bench, his arm muscles still flexing as he had bashed the glass and pumped his weight into breaking it. Not a dent was left. The halls were silent, except the heavy grind of a door being opened behind him. Jack turned to find Ben re-entering. For a second he imagined the young body he was leading in to be Kate's and jumped to attention, his body urging him to the glass again. But the figure Ben had shuddering beside him, her head bound with a familiar brown bag and her hands bound at her front, was too small to be Kate.

"I want you to know Jack," Ben said aloud, "that this is your chance."

Jack stared continuously at the bag over her face. "Your chance to do the right thing." He could hear the whimpers coming from her mouth, the way her hands fumbled together, shaking, vibrating, her pale skin a shadowy green in the light.

"Let 'em go Ben, I swear to God. I'll do anything." Jack mumbled. "Anything." He said like a key to their release. Ben seemed to dismiss it.

"Jack, I'd like you to meet Claire." Jack frowns, now recognising the young woman in front of her. He tore the bag from her head, watching the young lady as her eyes widened when she saw Jack. She screamed through the gag, petrified, her eyes glazed with fear.

"What did you do to her?" Jack yelled at Ben, who swept his hand down the side of her face, caressing the wrinkles at the side of her eye. "Ben listen to me, listen." Jack pounded on the glass, desperate to break Ben's glance off the girl. Ben slowly draws his look from her, and smiles at Jack.

Claire collapses to her knees, her body buckling, tears streaming from her eyes.

"What the hell did you do?" Jack gasps, crumbling inside as he sees her weary figure subside into the ground.

"It's not us Jack. It's the island. When I told you not to use that phone. I meant it."

"Stop fucking lying." Jack shouts, "tell me…" he gasps, wiping his hand across his face, "tell me what I have to do."

The bargain was. Jack had to save them. All of them. Like he said.

The world had gone dark seconds after the voice disappeared on the other end of the phone. Their mission was far from over.

"Jack this is your sister." Jack looks up directly into Claire's eyes, her sad face crying out to be helped. He was sat in front of her now, behind the glass yes, but closer. Her eyes begged him for something, but the gag prevented her from telling him what. Resorting to looking into her eyes for a clue was proving useless. Jack stood up.

"What?"

"You have a sister Jack." Their eyes meet, Claire less shocked than Jack was. "Your father spent a lot of time in Sydney, correct?" he said like a fact. Jack didn't answer. His face swapped between the villain and the damsel.

"What do you want Ben? What do your people want from us?" Jack was becoming more wise to Ben's antics to totally dismiss the idea, but he wasn't about to start believing every word. There was something incredibly clever about this island, Jack knew that now.

"In good time Jack, you will understand why. But until then I want you to do as I say." Jack swallows down the feeling that Ben is coming to a point, rather than just getting him more and more agitated. "And no one will get hurt."

"Let her go Ben." Jack demanded.

"Her? Are you sure you want me to do that?" Jack considers with his eyes what he had just said. "Let them all go." He corrected. "Keep me if that's what you really want. Whatever you want Ben," he reminded him. But Ben wasn't after Jack calling the shots. He already had a plan, and unbeknown to Jack, it was going to work.

"As I was saying earlier Dr." This caught Jack's attention, people didn't call him that. Not usually. Not now. "We let you live here unscathed up to a point. But people here Jack do not like being deceived by people I told them we could trust. You Jack, caused that panic amongst my people." Jack shakes his head.

"I…"

"Shut up Jack," Ben snapped, his eyes glaring towards the man, for the first time he seemed angrier than suspicious, and this caught Jack off guard. "You have made one mistake too many. You belong to Jacob now." Jack swallows, wetting his lips.

"Who is Jacob?" he asks suspiciously, tilting his head towards Ben. "Another person we have to answer to. I'm sick of answering to you people. And we wont."

"Jack on the other side of that wall is a lab. You've seen it before." He reminds him slowly reeling Jack in. His concentration hanging by a thread. "In that Lab is a woman. I suggest you remain very quiet until I have finished." He threatens.

For as long as he had been in this cell he had heard nothing. He had seen no one except Ben. He had no idea where the others were, who they were with, where they had been taken. What had been done to them. He shuddered, Kate filling his mind. Her scared face as he spoke into that phone. Her eyes calling out to him. Had they made a mistake?

"What have you done to her?" Jack snarled against the glass, desperate to have killed Ben when he had the chance. "If you've touched her, I'll kill you."

"Focus on Claire Jack, for the moment." He says, his eyes sliding over Jack's taught face, a sly smile covering Ben's face. "We have the child." Ben snarls. "We want more." Ben muffles angrily, "and you will give them to us. All of you." Claire lets out a sob as she hears a mention of her child. Her eyes scream at Jack and he moves back to Ben.

"What have you done with him. Where is he!" he exclaims ramming himself against the glass. Ben takes a step back.

"Your nephew Jack, is fine. One of my priorities is to give the people what they want." Ben wrestles Claire to her feet. "Do as I say Jack, and Claire will be fine. Her baby will be fine." He repeats.

"And the others…" Jack begins but Ben turns to leave, his face blank. His eyes, dark.

The door slams. The room echoes into silence.

"Kate!" Jack yells running to the far wall. "Ka-ate." He screams. He bangs, the breath being torn from his lungs with every letter of her name. He slides down the cold, hard wall, his fists sliding with him, catching on the sharpness of the stone. The door opens behind him, this time inside his cell. A man, unrecognisable, stands before him with handcuffs and a bag. This was surely hell.

When he opens his eyes again, he's alone in a white room, all except for one mirrored wall. Jack gasps for breath, the air clean compared to the musty smell of the corn bag. He turns to the door, closed and locked. No handle on the inside. What was this place? His eyes scan into the middle of the room. And then he sees her. Her hands bound above her head in handcuffs and a chain that pulls her arms almost straight. Her head is lolled to one side, her hair down, some around her shoulders, a few strands across her face. The ends straggled against her naked chest, her flesh rosy beneath the dark strands.

"Kate." Jack cries. But he cant move, his fear holds him down as he realises what has happened. His face crumples and for a moment all he can do is cry, the tears swimming down his face as he stares at her naked body, exposed and cold. She is tied down on what looks like a controlled bed. The black leather bent upwards so she is almost sitting, her knees that were raised covered her and lay limp to one side, her feet clamped to the bottom of the bed. Jack swallows unsure of what to do next. Other than the bed, there is only a cabinet to the side. Stainless steel and empty all but a clipboard and what looks like a pen. Jack slides out the chair, the gown he had been put in slipping down to his knees, similar to the one he wore to the funeral. He pushes the questions to the back of his mind.

She's alive.

Her golden chest rises and falls slowly, her eyes flutter, her lips swallow down the fear that her face tells him happened from the stains of tears that run down into her neck.

"Ka…" he begins. But closes his mouth imagining what she might do if she woke now. He looks behind the headboard and sees the chain wrapped around nothing but a hook in many twists.

"It's not hard Jack." Ben's voice echoes. Kate shifts, and Jack looks back from the mirrored wall to Kate to see her eyes wide and fearful as she seems him standing so closely beside her. Her breathing is fast, as she panics and realises she is naked, her chest rising and falling so fast Jack tears his eyes away from her.

"It's okay," he whispers to her, holding out his hand to steady her. But Ben's voice returns.

"You know what you have to do."

"Jack," Kate begs, her voice high and filled with tears, "Jack please…" she shudders aloud. He turns back to her, frowning gently, seeing her crane away from him on the bed. Her hands are shaking, the chains clang. She shakes her head, her hair wavers over her face.  
"I…" Jack shakes looking back to the mirror, an exasperated look on his face. "I don't…" Jack trembles.

"Jack please…" Kate begs in the back of his mind. He looks back to find her legs straining to be free from the chains, so she can crawl up tight and scared away from him, and his staring sad eyes.

"Jack…fix it." Ben echoes. Arousing Jack's attention, Jack turns and walks firmly to the mirror. He stares into the glassy centre holding himself up.

"I don't know who you think you people are," Jack rumbles, powered by the murderous sound of Kate's whimpers coming from her limp figure. "But I fucking well know not to expect anything humane from you creatures." He steadies his breathing, the anger taking over for a moment and possessing him so much he felt he had the power to physically rip off the door and free them all himself. "Let her go." Jack whispers against the glass.

"I'm sorry Jack but…"

"I said fucking let her go!" he belts himself against the mirror, the noise bounding off the small walls enclosing them.

"Jack!" Kate screams in surprise. But he stares tightly into the glass, picture Ben's look of stubborn hatred. Jack imagined pinning him down on the ground again, his flimsy figure beneath his taught muscly legs. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"You're right Jack," the voice returned eventually, "perhaps you should have? But you can't live on regrets."

"Listen to me," Jack moaned, "let her go." He closes his eyes, trying to shut out her whimpers, was she in pain? Or the same agony that he was?

"Jack, we're done listening. Do, what you're here…to do."

"Then tell me what that is!"

For the first time since she had seen his lost face, she realised Jack was unaware of what he had to do. He turns towards her, his eyes glassy, his efforts for release showing in his face.

"Jack." She whispers, calmer than before. "The chart," she nods towards the small clipboard on her right. Jack's eyes flick over her body, she notices his face lingering and then tearing away to the chart. He thumped the glass once more, but turned away from those piercing eyes that they both were blind to but equally aware of. Jack slides the chart into his hands, his fingers tracing the edges of the paper carefully. He flicks up the white page to reveal the yellow and the pink one, all corresponding with one another.

"What does it say?" She whispers.

"You don't know?" she shakes her head.

"Do you?" she mumbles, her eyes scraping round to see Jack's reaction. He looks away from her too soon? Doesn't he? He looks afraid, perhaps even unhappy. Was that the look in his eye?

"Well…" Jack begins, sounding for the first time like they have returned to normality all of a sudden. "You're not pregnant." He notices how her head flops back against the bed and she rolls it back towards him a grim smile playing on her lips. Her eyes flicker away from his, embarrassed. Jack chokes on the last of his words, his voice springing from no where and disappearing. He shakes his head and turns away from her, sniffing back the cries.

"I don't know when it all…"

"Jack…" she mumbles back to him, soothingly. He hears her voice and revels in the way it makes him tremble. Even now. Even here. He shakes his head though, in disbelief at himself. How dare he feel sorry for himself now?

"Kate I…" he turns back to her, concentrates on staring into her beautiful dark eyes, the shadows lifting instantly. "I don't understand what I…"

"It's okay," she beckons, with her eyes especially. But she wasn't convincing him just to speak. She was gesturing for him to relax too. "Just tell me what it says. Please."

He draws in a deep long breath, the edges trembling thin and weary.

"It says…" he begins. "It says that you now belong to the Dhama initiative. That you are there's to use to benefit the improvements linked to the testing agencies of fertility enhancement. Is this your signature." Jack lowers the clipboard to Kate's face and looks away as she nods. But since the word 'testing', he realised she wouldn't see beyond the tears that were forming in her eyes, and that she was doing her best to hold back.

He tears her signature away from her face, sure it was hers from the shape of the neat letters of her name, and the squiggle of the pen at the end. Neat and precise, just like her entire wellbeing.

"I…"

"I know." Jack states slowly, completely aware she would have never signed that. Signed her life away so securely.

"I don't know what the fuck you think you people are playing at…" Jack marched back to the wall and stamps the clipboard against the glass.

"It's not a game Jack." The voice fills the air, eerie and dense, "it's life."

"Then what do you want from me? I can't fix something you have already claimed to be what…repaired?" The words pained him to say. He imagined her face creasing in a similar way his had.

"Fix her Jack." He imagines Ben's gaze falling to Kate as if she were the ray of sun he had always dreamed of. What he had taken from being around Alex for so long, something he took for granted.

Jack turned to see her frightened face.

"She's not broken." He swallowed and walked back to her bed. He scraped the clothing off himself, revealing his shades of golden skin, hidden beneath the gleaming white gown. He shrouded her in it and tucked it under her chin, careful not to touch her at all. She smiled comforted and inhaled his scent slowly. Lowering his gaze to her eyes he smiled softly.

"I'm gonna get you out of this. I promise."

"There's only one way that's going to happen Jack." Perched on the side of her bed, their bodies inches away they both look up into the white ceiling where the voice appeared to come from. "In my hand I am holding an exact replica of the form you are holding Dr. Shepherd. Except this one," there's a distant pause, "has your signature on it."

"In twenty four hours she will be tested…"

"She has a name Ben." Jack says into his hand.

"In twenty four hours," Ben repeats. "If she's not pregnant." He starts, his voice plain and simple, "she's of no further use to us." Sickened by the statement, Jack brings up his head to meet the mirrored wall, his eyes glaring into the darkness beyond. He swallows, holding back his fears trying to comfort Kate with a look of serenity. "We have deadlines too Doctor. If you weren't brought here to fight us, or protect us. You were brought here, simply for us to use."

"You really think I believe you'd…" Jack speaks to the voice, as if he can see the face of Ben and all his charisma.

"Don't tempt me Jack. I can't be more kind than I already am being. James and Claire are close by. Aaron and I are here waiting for you all," Jack stares at Kate, forgetting what had been said only moments ago, "together. We are getting along famously already."

"You have to do something…" Kate gasps, rubbing the cotton away from her neck. "We can offer them something…anything?"

"I already did Kate?" Jack motions, looking into his bare lap for answers. He notices the worn ends of his boxers, a mucky grey compared to the white they had once been. When did life get like this? And how had he not taken any notice of it? "I just don't " But her cries are filling the small room, deep tension filled sobs that fall from her lips like tiny earthquakes. Her body trembles and her face pours out her hearts content. Jack reaches out to hold her, but rears back, scared of their skin melting against one another.

She turns away from him anyway, embedding her face into her shoulder, her armpit so much so that the edge of Jack's smock fall away revealing part of her round slim breast. He looks away, blushing. He turns into his hand and grits his teeth in anger.

"I swear to God!" he swears, raising off the bed and spinning in the room, "what do you want!" he screams, his face crumbling, his veins searing up from underneath his skin. "What do you want…" he drowns in his own frustration kneeling to the floor, completely taken over by the extreme confusion and resentment.

"What do you think will happen to you…James…the others? When you leave here?" Kate wonders a small while afterwards. When her cries had subsided from passionate cries, to mere sobs and then again diminished into trembling tears. He had listened to her quieten down, turning to sit against the long leg of the bed, his head back his eyes closed, the silent air lulling him into a place that he once considered reality. The sand flees, the roaring sea at all hours, the constant buzz of people and their problems.

"I don't know…" he whispers back, considering himself for the first time. "I don't care," he smiles, shaking his head with despair.

"You're giving up?" she states, rolling her head back to the shape of the back of Jack's head. She notices how long his hair is now, the shape of it sitting around his head, still so clean and touchable. She longs to reach out and touch it now, cursing herself for not doing so when she had the chance.

"On myself, perhaps." Jack turns round on his knees, his arms flattening along the edge of the bed, his eyes peeling at her face, once again cautious not to intrude on her space. "I meant what I said earlier," he whispers like the biggest secret he had ever told, his jaw moving against his arm. "Which is why I'm not giving up on you yet."

Kate manages a warm smile. Her face lights up when he reassures her in a way that wouldn't make any sense to anyone else in the world, let alone on the island. He was sure though, that it had the impact he wanted it to have. He smiles back at her, softly.

"Jack," she says softly, her voice hoarse and sour from the crying. He blinks with understanding. "Touch my hand," he looks up instantly to her bound red wrists, her entwined fingers and then back to her face. They didn't have to speak. Their eyes hold on to one another as he reaches up slowly, his fingers flexing forwards to meet hers.

His fingers first, Jack slides them into the palm of her hand sending shivers along her nerve endings. Her long fingers expand from their tight position and float open a little wider as his smooth skin runs along hers. Growing in confidence, he slides his hand up against hers more fully, their fingers matching for a moment, in size and shape. His eyes focus on holding them together, careful not to jerk apart at any moment and break the undeniable bond. She holds her hand perfectly still for Jack to fit his into hers and then all too suddenly he breaks away.

Quizzically she watches as he dives behind the bed and gradually she feels the chain supporting her arms loosen. Her hands fall down into her lap suddenly as she realises they are no longer held up for her. She cracks her fingers, rolls her wrists and tries to pull out of the handcuffs, but they are still tightly sewn around her.

Sliding back to the floor beside her, Jack reaches down and takes her hands in his again.

"I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Kate smiles down at their joining hands, and then slides her fingers between his properly, placing her other hand over his, locking them together more firmly now.

"I wish you could keep that promise Jack," she mouths, "but it's okay because I love you too."

"I've gotten pregnant before…" she says slowly, looking down into the joining of their hands. She watches her own fingers as she strokes his bold furry hand gently, slightly tickling the surface of his skin as he slept on the side of her bed. He turns his head in his arms to face her now, his eyes wide and sparkling as he let her speak. "I wasn't ready…" she says quietly, and then draws their eyes together. "Can you imagine me as a mother…" she laughs, spluttering with tears of emotional torture. Jack pushes himself up on his knees again, taking her hands more securely.

"When you're ready, you'll make a great mother Kate." He squeezes her hands more tightly.

They fall silent, smiles playing on their lips. Unspoken words lifting up in the air around them.

"You…you think they're watching us?" she whispers, her eyes touching the room above them.

"I think they'd have to be pretty sad to be sat watching us." Kate smiles and shifts carefully to the side as Jack climbs onto the bed beside her. He notices that she clings to his hands, refusing to let go. He complies, sitting first beside her and then slowly pushing out his legs in front of him, along side her beautiful tanned calves. He tears his eyes away back to her face where she smiles and then softly lowers her head to his shoulder, her eyes heavy and slow with each blink.

She sighs deeply, sounding calm for the first time. He holds her hands as strongly as he dares, just to reassure her a little more.

"If you don't do this Jack," she mutters, turning her lips into his skin. He hears her swallow the giant ball of fear rising in her throat. He felt it too, between them, rising from no where but threatening all the same. She watches as he bites his lower lip, his eyes fluttering anxiously, flicking out over the white lab room in front of him. White had never seemed so dirty in all his life.

"I wont do it Kate." He said surely, shaking his head for emphasis. He doesn't see her eyes close and tears escape, down her cheeks on a path of destruction.

"You have to…" she whispers, glad he was holding her hands, preventing them from shaking rigorously. She sniffs loudly, circling her eyes trying to will back the tears. She closes them, breathing in the scent of his bare skin, the soft warm flesh melting beneath her lips.

"Not like this." he says softly and turns into her head, sinking into the curls of her hair.

"Jack, please…" she moans, "if you don't…" she gags, "I don't want to die." His head falls back against the squishy bed. Their hands break as he tosses his face into them, to hide. "Jack," she says guiding her locked fingers to his face, tugging on him. "If we do this, if it works…"

"You'll die anyway," he explains harshly, shaking his head, his eyes welling yet again. The pain too real, the promise of destruction too close to bear.

Their eyes meet and Kate sinks her fingers into his in any which way she can. She clings to his scratched and bruised knuckles, she holds his cold palms against her own and gently she fingers the soft warm skin on the insides of his fingers. His gaze dips to watch her slim hands working against him. His breathing slows, his cries disappear and gently she nuzzles her head against his bare chest.

"But it might work Jack…" is all she says. It's all she knows she can say, crazy as it was, sure they are still watching with eager eyes. Noting down every word they spoke, every bit of working out they did. She bites her lip gently, praying that Jack understood what she was trying to say. At least this way, it would buy them some time…

"Kate, I…" Jack roams her covered figure, from the edge of her hairline to the tips of her round toes. "You're tied to a bed in chains," he choked, "I could never…" he shakes his head in disbelief.

"Is this not how you imagined it?" she laughs lightly, her body kicking in and providing her with relief, her mind almost blocking out the reality. Jack laughed, sadness evident in his face as he watched her make light of the situation that was worse than he could have ever imagined it to be when he picked up that phone. Perhaps it would have been better if John had just shot him there and then? Better for her at least. He smiles staring into her beautiful face.

"Tell me Jack," Kate whispered, turning her face against his body again and kissing one tiny area on his shoulder. Her tongue moves back into her mouth and her lips click away leaving a shiny clear stain where she had been. "Tell me how you imagined it Jack." She mutters so quietly, he considers that he hadn't heard her at all, that all of this was a trick of the mind. He opens his mouth to speak, but swallows the words quickly away again.

"Close your eyes Kate," Jack pushes to her delicately, his words trickling against her forehead. She looks at his cautiously. "It's okay," he promises, "I'm not going to do, or go anywhere. Just…" he beckons them closed with a smile peeping in his eyes.

He watches as her lids fall shut, and flicker for a moment intensely. Staring down into her face, he blocks out the rest of the world, aware he was never good at this sort of thing back home, let alone here. He lowers himself on the bed beside her, his head meeting hers, centimetres away from her, as if watching her sleep beside him. His eyes roam her silent face, her peachy eyelids, the dark flick of her eyelashes so circular and full. He longed to reach out and run his fingers down the edge of her nose and into her full round lips. He licks his lips so slowly, he is sure they are dry again before he finishes.

"That day you kissed me Kate," she flinches as he pulls a hand free and slides it loosely down the side of her face. "Was the day I realised I would never be able to go on living my life without you." She smiles from behind her eyes slowly, her lips stretching. Jack melts inside, his eyes sliding upwards in sadness as he sees her face a picture of ease and beauty. "No one has ever kissed me like that. And …and it made me feel so…"

"Kiss me Jack." Her eyes bound open, the hurt filling them, panic flooding her face quickly when she opens her eyes to the world they were in. The deadly room they are trapped in.

"Kate I…"

"Kiss me."

"But I love you." He bargains uselessly.

"Which is why," she says lifting her head silently closer, "I trust you to do this, to do this, to make the right decision and help us in the only way that you can."

"You trust me…" he repeats slowly, searching her eyes.

"I always have, haven't I?" Jack nods.

She lowers her eyes down into his body. Her face delighting in the figure before her, the future he had just spoken of.

"Touch me Jack." She whispers shivering.

* * *

Well - that's it so far!! Going to post Chapter 2 .. right now!!

Please review !! pleaseplease!! .. and go read chapter 2 im a poet!


	2. Chapter 2

As promised .. chapter two. Even more 'adulty' 'smutty' and 'twisted'

**Warning:** **adult content and plot. **Don't read if you think you might be offended. I dont mean to offend anyone.

Disclaimer: i do not nor have i ever owned anything to do with the characters or the TV show LOST purely fictional!

* * *

**A Shade of Hope - Chapter 2**

**by Emily Louise**

She clings to his eyes, desperate to hold his gaze. She sounded nervous, but she had reason to, he thought. Her words settled in his mind, but he froze still, unable to shift. She sounded sure, but how sure was she? How well _did _he know her? And how sure could he be, that she wasn't just saying this to make him do something in a mere attempt to save them. Hurting her in this way, was no promise of escape. It was a promise of death and separation either way.

Jack, trembling inside, picks her hands in his, and gathers them to his mouth. He moves the chains down below the sores they had created and then slowly, draws her wrists to his lips. He kisses the soft sore flesh, burning beneath the metal and now his mouth. He moves his lips gently over the area, his chapped mouth touching and pulling back off her body. He adjusts gradually into her palm, his tongue flicking out into her soft raised palms. With his fingers he circles inside her clutch, drawing open her fingers and entwining his own, slipping in and out of each finger slowly. He smothers the back of each hand against his open mouth and then slips her littlest fingers deep into his wet mouth. Tiny inside his wide dark mouth.

He suckles on the flesh, his tongue wet and throbbing as he sucks it down deeper into his mouth. He swaps to another finger, this time drawing it deep into his mouth, until his lips reach the join of her fingers. He slowly draws her out with his hand, the force of his sucking tongue working against the force of his hand pulling her out. Their eyes meet in the middle as he plays, warming her insides with his own. Kate smiles sadly, her face a picture of misshapen fortune. He feels her move, her legs pushing between his. He draws her closer, one hand pulling her body against his, feeling and matching her desire to be even closer.

Their legs entwine, hers between his, tight and safe. She pulls their heads together, their hands warmer now, together and strongly bound. Her lips press against his forehead and slowly trundle down the edge of his nose, her mouth gagging for more. She waits for a moment until he pulls her thumb into his mouth. Her hand bent back so he can reach. He bites gently on the skin that joins her thumb to her hand, nibbles on the edge and then tips the whole thumb back into his mouth. But Kate can't wait any longer, and draws her hand out of his mouth. She envelops her mouth with his, quick to find his tongue, which was still hovering just off the side of her thumb.

She moans when their tongues meet, her body urging against his, his hand pulling her even closer. She twists over him, finding her solace in the depths of his comforting kiss. Their lips form together, their tongues twisting inside their hot mouths. They break slowly back, their eyes wide and blazing at what was happening.

"Touch me Jack," she whispers again, almost sounding eager and ready. Jack folds his mouth over hers again, buying him just a little more time to prepare himself for something he had never been more prepared and unprepared for.

He licks her mouth, her lips lying open after a while, letting him roll over her with force. She lies limp, her head back against the bed as Jack moves over her, the blanket between them, protecting her from him. She realised then why he was moving over her, to cover her from them.

"Move your leg here," he whispers into her ear. Slowly taking hold of her leg, he tries to lift it at the knee, so that he slips between it, again covering what would be their join from demented eyes.

"I can't," she mutters against his lips, rattling the chains so he understands. Jack kisses her softly and then adjusts himself again, all for her protection, her dignity that he was absolutely sure he was going to do as little as possible to destroy.

"Are you okay?" he asks gently, looking down into her face.

"My feet?" she gestures, peering round him. Jack slips off the bed and releases the chain from the hook, questioning why that wasn't the first thing he had tried to do. He moved to her head and carefully lowered the top of the bed, so it was barely upright. Realising he had to climb back over in an awkward manner, Jack peers back at her. Her slim figure sat up, her hands clasped against her front holding up the smock, which draped at the sides, shaping her round voluptuous figure. Their eyes loop together and she smiles with as much admiration as she could manage at that moment. Jack smiles too and glides back over her body with more ease than he imagined he possessed. They glide back down together.

"Are you okay?" he asked again and she smiled up at him. She nods, her words lost beneath his chest that pressed down over hers.

"We have plenty of time Kate okay, we don't have to rush." She read between the words this time, hearing him more clearly than ever. She smiles up at him and moves her hands around his wide neck, her fingers falling with the chains cold against his back.

Almost desperate to have her warm lips on him again, Jack presses their mouths together warmly, and they collapse into one another. They roam, their tongues arching and crawling against one another, smoothly sinking as they touch one another. Kate strokes deep movements into his neck, her fingers strolling across his body, willing to break free and be able to hold him like she wished. She fought back the fear that she wouldn't be able to touch him the first time they had sex, not in the way she wanted. She had imagined the heat and the passion filling the room and their bodies. But here, like this, she knew it would be more unlike anything she had ever experienced. Again, she fought with her mind, pressing the images of her strapped to a bed away, but it was all too real.

He felt her mind wonder away from him, he could feel her slipping from reality, here with him, now. Their mouths still clamped together, his head moved to the left to delve deeper into her mouth, but her tongue was flat and still. He dared to open his eyes and found hers glaringly still as well. All the fear in the world present in one look of loss. Their mouths open and move away, Jack holds his hands over her head, stroking fingers into her long hair. Gently, he rolls his hips against the blanket, against her body, and carefully presses his body between her legs. Her eyes snatch his and settle as she feels him hardening slowly. When he rolls away she gently pushes her crotch up to meet him again, comforted by the hardness of him, the way he could relax with her, even now. Apparently this was a source of release for her. He smiles widely, noticing her relax, he pushes himself deeper between her legs, pushing his length against her trim opening. Training his body down over hers. He kisses her again, passionately this time, continuing the motion of moving over her, manoeuvring round in her mouth as if he was trying to embed himself on her.

She groans when he moves against her harder, his body harder and heavier than ever. He slips his hand furthest away from the glass under her arm and behind her back. He holds her body in his cupped hand and strokes her shoulder. Gradually, he tears this hand away and touches the skin just under her armpit lightly. She shivers from the naked contact, her mouth hanging off his still and steady, and the air around them awfully cold. His fingers graze her softly and then slip like a blanket over her breast. Their mouths crush together tightly, she moans deep into his mouth their lips biting against each other as his fingers flatten over her tight nipple, the contours of her flesh rosy and ripe.

Her arms lock around his neck more securely. He strokes along her arm reassuringly, his other hand still against her smooth ripe breast. Gently flexing his fingers, his palm grazes the tip of her hard nipple and he opens his eyes down over her. He feels and watches her slow breathing, her lips parted and wet taking in the air around them, and then slowly blowing it out. Her eyes dance against his, he glances down into her mouth, sees the glimmer of her shiny tongue and leads a path from her neck back to her mouth.

"God I wanna touch you Jack," she blows into his head, pressing her face against his, tearing down the side of his stubble that was over grown since being held here. He doesn't answer, he presses harder around her breast. His fingers twirling the wrinkled skin in his hand until she rolls her head up, gasping for a second. She rolls her leg between his, gliding her thigh up against him, pressing when she felt his hard body. Jack bows his face into her neck now, panting against her fresh skin, he kisses the soft flesh, revelling in the bony skin as she shifted beneath him.

His hands hold her safely, his fingers on one side plaiting her body with his. As she opens her legs wider, bending them around his bare waist, the material slips away, and her hot thighs pull his large body against her. She rotates her hips upwards, contact making him groan as his length lies directly against her hard pelvis, pressing down on him and making him shudder inside.

"Mm," he moans into her ear longingly, she does it again and again, rhythm taking over. The burning notion in her stomach rears to her body, surprising and exciting her as she holds his length against herself for a moment longer, pressing her pelvis tenaciously against his body carousing in the feeling of him against her. She imagines his face, a look of bliss hidden in her neck, hot and aroused. The strength in his arms flexing around her, his strong broad fingers caressing her breast even beneath the surface, hot and writhed against the cotton and her body. She nuzzles the side of his face, scratching their faces together until it almost hurt.

"Uh-Jack," she groans, pleasured and emotionally bound to him now. He noticed how her fingers settle against him every so often. He can feel the beat of her steady heart in his hand, his fingers grazing her chest.

"What…" he moans softly, "You okay?" she nods into his neck, sinking beneath the surface of his shoulder. She wanted to be completely hidden by him, and not just now, for the rest of her life. She wanted him so close that she felt like this always. Protected and lost in the best place in the world. With him.

"Talk to me Jack…" she mumbles softly, "tell me what you're thinking." He looks down over her, her face a picture of fright and satisfaction. She wriggles underneath him, her back arching as she presses up into his hand, evidently taking the time to loose herself in him, a sure way to forget where she was. Seeing this effort, Jack complies and kisses her mouth deeply, soaking her lips for a second and then falling directly down her neck and into her chest, moving the material slowly with him, careful to have her remain covered.

"I'm thinking that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," he kisses the darkest places of her neck, the places he saw from across a room many times and longed to touch with his fingers let alone his mouth. Sometimes he would come so close to reaching out and touching her instinctively, he was desperate to help her put on her rucksack or even move her hair out of the way, just to have contact with this incredible woman.

"I'm thinking you taste so amazing on my…" he kisses her mouth again, planting his wet round soft lips on hers. Each hand of his now sinks beneath the smock and against her chest. She is the one that urges her breasts above the edge, her peaks tripping against the sewn edge covered by his large worked hands. He massages her skin softly before he pauses to lie his lips around her. He kisses from her neck across her chest and up the mound slowly, literally painting a line up to the peak, his head tilted in such a way that covered her from the mirror as his lips touched her nipple for the first time, sinking down against the darker skin.

"I'm thinking if I was ever to have a child…" she pants, looking as he works over her, "I'd want it to be with you." Hearing her words he raises his eyes to hers. "Just in case I never get the chance to tell you…afterwards." She adds. He swallows, the declaration more than he had expected. Not a lot else could surprise him on this day, he thinks and crawls up to meet her mouth.

She cradles his head in her arms as they roll on the high bed, their arms caressing one another. They fall still, Kate almost on her side, but Jack still covering her almost completely. His leg was now tilted all the way over her body, his arm holding her slightly on her side, supporting her, caressing her lower back with trickling fingers. Kate slides her hands into the small gap between their bodies, her hands still bound. Her heart floods out of her own body to the man before her, covering her in such a way now, she was trapped from the mirror. He hoped she hadn't noticed the camera in the top corner by her head.

Their kiss deepens from the change in positioning, their mouths delving against one another tentatively. Her hands cup his chin, her red fingers grazing him repetitively.

"Look at me Kate," and her eyes come to him obediently.

"I'm yours okay," he whispers to her, giving all he can, and in some way owning up his dignity. Giving it up, offering it to her so they are both in the same position. "You're in control here," he explains as considerately as the situation would allow. "You tell me what," he whispers against her face and kisses her cheek. "Guide me Kate," he says their eyes closed in a kiss.

It was as if she were in constant pain. Her face closed off even when he speaks, as if her heart was shattering from hearing the words. Any woman would have broken down long before she would. But that didn't make her much stronger under the circumstances.

"Just hold me Jack," she begs, cries crawling to her throat, "please… Don't let me go." He complies wrapping his arm around her more tightly, his leg pulling her into his body. She clings to his body, if he were wearing a garment her hands would be in fists, instead her fingers grapple at his bare skin, opening and closing desperately.

"I love you Jack," she whispers. He nods his head, frowning slightly.

"I know." He whimpers, perhaps realising for the first time that this was too much, too far, and she was loosing. They were loosing, as a team, as a group, they were slowly taking her. "Kate look at me," she shakes her head into his neck, delving deeper. "Please Kate," he whispers, "I want you to look at me darlin." Her breathing slows, as if she is falling a sleep right there and then. "Look into my eyes, that's it," he soothes, holding her gaze carefully, as if she is the most fragile piece of glass in the world. And the most precious. "Don't you look anywhere else," he tells her. "No blinking okay," he smiles.

"Where are we?" he asks her smiling with his eyes. "Tell me where we are." She swallows, struggling with the answer. It had been so long since they had been anywhere else but hell.

"Come on," he beckons sliding his hand he was lying on up to grasp hers. He strokes her long fingers amongst his. "Where are we gonna be?"

"Now?" she asks swallowing.

"Me and you," he nods, "just us. Not here, not on the island. We can be anywhere you want?"

She hadn't been somewhere she truly loved in a long time. Fashioning a place of her dreams was either extraordinarily hard, or the easiest thing in the world. "I've never been to New York." She mumbles.

"Okay…" he slides nodding wearily, daring to believe this was going to work.

"We're in the city,"

"Have you been?" she whimpers, her voice shaking still.

"Yep. Oh it's amazing Kate," he breaths. "The lights, the lights are all you can see for days." Her hand grips his tighter, he wants to look down and see their collection of untidy hands, but refuses to let go of her passionate eyes.

"The noise," he gasps, "the cars and…and the people. The people are everywhere."

"We can disappear amongst them. Just us."

"Just us," he repeats and smiles slyly, hoping to make her smile too.

"I…I…" she begins and he prays she will continue, her quiet voice being lost already. "I always wanted one of those apartments with the balcony…and…"

"Yeah…" he breathes, sighing in fear of her loosing even her dreams today.

"Come with me Jack." She begs, "after all of this, when we're free, come with me."

"I wouldn't even consider not coming." He mutters. She slides her eyes closed and takes three long deep calm breaths.

And just like that she seems to be calm again. He wonders how many numbers she counted to in her mind, and blinks the tears from memory. This woman was all he was ever going to live for now, there was no doubt in his mind.

"I'm so cold." She whispers, and Jack automatically draws her closer still, their chests touching for the first time. She shivers, looking anxiously up into his face. He runs his hand quickly up and down her arm, generating heat. Before he realises what is happened, Kate takes his mouth again and sinks her lips between his, kissing him. He rolls into the kiss, holding their faces together once more. Beneath her closed eyes, blocking the world away and delving into her dream, Kate grabs his arm off hers and pushes it down. The material covering her rolls away, a draft running over her body sharply. She freezes all over but guides Jack's hand down into the dip of her waist. She doesn't stop until she pushes his arm into the join of their bodies. She has to stop when she looses the strength and will to peel her body off his and guide his hand down between her legs. But Jack knows what he has to do. He just has to find the inner strength to do it.

"In the apartment," she shakes, swallowing loudly, her voice rapidly lost underneath her trembling, "we…we have this…this…" she opens her eyes to find Jack glaring at her suspiciously, his hand lodged against her waist, waiting…but for what? But she smiles quickly. "One of those beds that look's like…like a boat," she stutters. She lifts up her leg and Jack hovers against her hipbone. Her eyes argue with him and Jack, saddened at first and then reassured that he was not worse off, lowered his hand into the heat against her thigh. "And…" she continues, knowing words and lack of concentration were the only things that might help her succeed here. "And cushions." She laughs, tears springing from her eyes, "lots of cushions."

Jack touches her soft hair, settling his fingers against her skin smoothly, holding his hand as steady as he could.

"You alright?" he asks softly, touching her hair ever so slightly with one hand, his other hand perfectly still.

"What's your favourite colour?" she asks nodding, levering her leg down, then adjusting it back over Jack's leaving him room to move inside of her.

He on the other hand had fallen still against her. His longest finger just touching the slide of her body that dove down into her opening.

"Blue." He made up quickly. "What's yours." Her eyes recognised the lie and smiled.

"Blue." She lied. In some way they were on the same level. Neither were secure enough to have a favourite. "Blue cushions." She announced and smiled broadly.

"Red drapes," Jack whispered.

"A-and…" she stuttered, Jack, about to move, holds his fingers motionless, "a yellow crib."

She shudders, his hands so close that she pulls her body up so that his hand moves between her lips. He flinches into action and continues pushing his fingers down, following the sensual shape of her body, the smooth lips down into her wet opening.

"Animals," Jack whispered into her face, "you can paint animals on the walls."

"Clouds." She whispers back. "Clouds on the ceiling." Her eyes flutter to the ceiling above them as he dips one finger inside of her taught body, her opening tightening instantly from the contact. Her eyes slide closed in ecstasy as he body takes him.

"Thousands of stuffed toys." Jack mutters against her cheek, kissing the top of her mouth. She grabs his lips and sucks hard, her face creasing as he pushes his finger deeper. She seemed to pull back, her body rigid and fraught.

"Don't stop," she begs when she feels him tense, probably thinking he had hurt her already, tears streaming down her face as he pulls out. "Please." She begs. "Jack don't stop." And she lowers herself back over his hand.

Jack spreads his finger inside of her, holding himself against her wet hot walls and revelling in the feel of her. His closes his hand around her lips, his other fingers trickling against her warm body.

"You're perfect," he whispers against her lips, and kisses her again and again softly. "You're so perfect," he mumbles across her mouth, lying her back down flat on the bed and lying over her. His finger rolls inside of her again, this time her body more relaxed and her mouth kissing him back slowly, so carefully its like she has to think what to do each time.

Her hands glide around his neck. Her mind focussing, or at least trying to hold the thought of his hand flowing through her so completely. She indulged in the warmth that he brought to her, each time that his finger slid against her walls, touching a part of her few had. She whimpers when he pushes further this time, craning up, his body arching over her. She stares into his eyes, clinging to the mere possibility that this wouldn't be the last time they were together like this.

His fingers work magic inside of her, initially painful in a mental way. She opens her eyes, searching for his face, comforted by him in so many ways. "Tell me when Kate," he says his fingers moving sensually now, spaciously revolving inside of her beautiful body.

He follows her eyes each time he spreads inside of her. Two fingers introduced now, his hand arching deep inside of her body. They slide along the bed with each steady movement.

"I'm okay," she assures him for the first time. Daring to revel in the feel of Jack touching her for a mere second. Her eyes open on him again though, just to be sure he was still with her. It was still him holding her. Protecting her in a way that he didn't see as protection. But Kate, Kate saw it as nothing but. He was doing everything he could. Everything possible in the place they were in.

She motions for him to move over her and Jack complies carefully climbing over her once again, his hand pressed between their bodies. Did she just want this over with? As he lowers his weight down, he pushes his thumb firmly against her throbbing nub, surprised to find her so aroused. Her head cranes backwards against the bed, her hair spilling out around her face as she wriggles.

"Uhh," she groans, feeling like she is giving them what they want as she enjoys herself.

"That's it Kate," Jack whispers into her ear and she turns her head into his warm sweet neck. "It's just us." He closes his eyes into her shoulder. Suddenly aware he had to perform if she was ready.

"Just us." She repeats, as he draws his fingers from her, her legs peeling upwards at the knees. He drives his fingers around her pulsing clit, his two soaking digits wetting her with her warm insides. Jack sinks his fingers inside her again and then retrains his thumb back to her clit, sliding more easily now, making her groan a little more convincingly.

His fingers work with more passion now, more haste. Thrusting in and out of her with a force that was subtle yet firm. She stays perfectly still beneath him, and he wonders if she always did, or was this just her under circumstance. How much was real?

"Let me touch you Jack," she whispers and he draws back his face, still pumping his fingers smoothly inside of her. Drawing out quickly, and then firing through her again. "Let me hold you," she begs, her eyes burning with desire. Jack swallows, holding himself up gave him a chance to control his arm that led through her body, his fingers expanding inside of her.

"Tell me where," Jack groaned, pushing three fingers slowly inside of her. Her smile grew as her body did around his fingers. She groans and twists her head to one side, her neck shaping as she did. He kissed her clear neck, the flesh melting in his mouth. "Tell me where Kate," he muttered across her face, looking at her creasing face from an angle.

He continued pushing through her, deeper than before, until her eyes bang closed and her stomach goes weak. A burning rises a little more, and her heart flutters at the thought of Jack being able to manage to have this affect on her here, now. Jack places his thumb directly on her clit. Then he slides right over it and into her skin on the left. His hand stays steady and applies just the right amount of pressure. Her face though, remains perfectly still, so beautiful, dark and gorgeous, and perfect. Deliberately he rummages on a straight line to the right, passing over her clit and moving a little further down. Abruptly, she groans, her body tightens once, twice around Jack's fingers and her body bends awkwardly. Jack's smile matches hers and he moves to kiss her.

He holds this spot and circles it more firmly. He takes her clit under his thumb and pushes down over it in firm pulses. Then he slides it to the right and feels the familiar pulses of her tight opening, this time more strongly.

"Mmm Jack." She whispers deeply, "How do you…!" she cries in a whisper when he does it again, the pattern causing her to bend beneath him, her long figure stretching, her bottom arching down into the bed. His hand follows her, he holds his fingers deep inside of her until her opening contracted more than once.

"You in New York yet?" Jack mutters into her mouth, the echoes so delicious, he takes a gulp from her lips.

"Close," she frowns, "are you?" He watches her face frown and lighten each time he moved inside her, each time his thumb patted her body and each time she grew a little wetter. He looked down, taking the chance to look down at their joining. He felt himself harden instantly when he saw the join of hand and her body shaded in a beautiful patch of dark strands. With his thumb he slides it into the thick shaped hairs and then gently grazes down between her lips, meeting and travelling down into her growing clit, unaware of the change. His body grew and when he turned back to her face he found her cheeks glowing with an array of life, and her eyes open, softly staring at him.

"I…"

"Don't explain," she whispered drawing him closer. "I don't care."

"Then…" he moans as she nudges her leg against his body, "I'm anywhere you are." He pushes deeper and once more they glide upwards.

"I want you Jack," she moans into the musk scent of his neck. "I want to feel you Jack,"

"You sure?" he whispers back, revolving inside her for so long his fingers are as warm as the sweet insides of her body. Her breaths are quick, short, narrowed by him and the effect his fingers had on her.

"You ready? Okay?" she asks him briefly. And he just smiles with admiration for her strength and beauty.

"I'm with you aren't I?" he grins and moves his fingers continuously still. Giving her time, the space she might need.

"Yes…but…" she gasps, "this is the first time we…" He's already shaking his head.

"Every dream I have these days, is filled with you. Of us." She smiles.

"I'm so sorry Jack." She whispers referring to an incident she hadn't even begun to come to terms with breaching. "I…" she begins, Jack stunned to silence his fingers slowing were it not for her body rocking him on. "You didn't deserve..."

"We all have pasts we aren't proud of." They both cast the present from their minds. "I don't want you to think about it for another second. I'm here." He soothes, "if you didn't make me crazy, in so many different ways, I wouldn't feel about you the way I do. I wouldn't love you." He clarifies.

Feeling inclined, she groans from his hand once more and then sighs.

"If I didn't love you, if I loved him I wouldn't have thought of you the second I heard that door. I wouldn't have imagined you inside of me all those times, I wouldn't have left the bathroom door in the hatch open that time willing you to come and join me…" Jack grinned, his pace never slowing.

"I knew it!" he muttered playfully. Finally, a genuine smile from her. It touched him this time.

"Make love to me Jack." He glides his fingers, hot and wet away from her and crawls across her body. Only when he is completely over her, does he tug the material cautiously from between them. She feels the lull of his hard length between them and draws up her knees itching and writhing desperately hot.

"I don't care what anyone says Kate," Jack shakes, suddenly weary and frightened himself. "This crash was the best thing that ever happened to me." and he embeds his mouth over hers slowly, caressing her lips, petting them and drawing away only to flick his tongue out against hers. "I'm glad we ended up here," he whispers into her mouth, "if it means we are together," their foreheads touch as he lifts himself up with his arms, his waist hovering over hers. She parts her legs a little more and confidently as he can manage Jack holds his head down as he lines his hips a little lower than hers, settling himself between her legs and then slowly rides upwards, nudging himself into her opening. He delves inside her walls, wide and ready for him.

She tightens around him, her body contracting, but their faces never loosing touch in any way.

"You're perfect too," she laughs lightly, the cries tickling her throat. Jack smiles, his veins bursting as he bowls down in front of her, her body having such an effect on him. It settled inside of him where he was, what he was doing, but more importantly, who he was with.

"O-h-Ka-ate," he groans his fingers automatically stroking the top of her head. "U-hm," he mutters nonsensically.

"It's okay," she soothes, their roles reversed so completely. She holds her legs close to him, arches her back so he can slide more smoothly into her, make a complete journey. She smiles when he groans again and fights the force to rock into her so soon before her body is adjusted to his size. He can feel himself squeezing through as it was, and it was unbelievable.

"Jack…" Kate whispers, her voice soft and light, "you feel amazing inside me," she manages, her eyes opening and closing softly like she was already asleep in a dream. If only, he thinks bearing up at her. Collecting himself he smiles at her and holds her face closer to his.

"You feel incredible," he questions as to why their words are filled with smiles and wonder, and yet the world around them is dark and frightening. Perhaps this was their release. "You…you…" he stutters. "Am I hurting you?"

"…No…" she moans and urges and rolls her hips around him, her back a perfect line of spine. Jack rolls a finger all the way down, following the ripple of her arch.

"Can I…" he asks.

"Move in me Jack," she gasps urgently, hearing his plea. With a sigh he pulls out slowly, right out until their bodies pulse with eroticism. Cautiously, with ease and care he holds her broad tanned hips in his pale hands, kisses between her breasts briefly and thrusts inside of her again, this time with more strain, more power controlling him.

They both groan. Kate arches her back more suddenly, her body jolting around Jack.

"Again…" she begs and he complies immediately, almost reading her mind. She flings her arms above her head, but he finds them and crawls into her palms, her fingers coming down over the backs of his hands. "My-Jack…" she gasps. He slides off the bed the third time, and strips himself completely of his boxers. For the first time she sees his full figure, his pulsing body, his taught shapes. His eyes are wide and blazing.

Holding her legs steady Jack crawls between them, passing over her body. He kisses her wet sweating opening, his tongue dipping into her opening deeply. Her sweetness spreads on his lips and he groans, she watches him grow harder for her and smiles to herself. Sitting up, she pushes her hands down and for a small second can collect his long warm length in her hands. She holds him, spreading her fingers over and around him, as if it were dark and all she had was her touch. Eventually he slides from her hands, pulsing and throbbing, tempted far too much to let her finish him off, but aware that wasn't even an option. She led him back to her opening, this time between her legs as she tied them around his waist as much as the chain would allow.

He thrust easily into her this time, pulsing at such a rate his gasps grew and passed from his mouth to hers. They gasped against one another mouths, rumours of incredibility sparking between their teeth.

"You okay…"

"Perfect…"

"I love you…"

"You're…amazing,"

"Incredible…"

Their breathes grew heavier, lust filled as he thrust rhythmically inside of her, his hips rotating him deeper each time. His body so powerful inside hers, stretching her a little more until her walls caressed him until he throbbed. Remembering her pleas, Jack held her tightly, his arms wrapping her up, conscious to kiss her, love her, adore her in every which way possible. Show her how much she meant to him.

It didn't go unnoticed. In many ways she recognised the passionate lull of his lips trembling against hers, moving so slowly and cautiously it felt like a layer of water brushing over her. He kisses her shoulder as he pushes through her. He holds his lips against the dip in her neck. Their tongue's dance together between their lips, the edges stroking and then gliding down each side, mixing and delighting in what the other tasted like. Their chests rise and fall together, she held him down on her, comforted by the heaviness of him, and the strength he had over her. Her breasts crushed and hot beneath his furry chest made her feel safer than usual, made her feel wanted and right against him. He rocked inside of her gently, easily. Each stroke pushing deeper, and then his hips rolling them along her insides. She gasped lightly when he fell further than before, her body pulsing around him.

He looks down on her, checking and weary to pay attention to her every need.

"It's okay," he whispers, nuzzling her face, sliding his sideways and then back, staring down at her. "You don't have to," he groans. Jack kisses her warmly, deeply, his mouth spreading inside hers. "Don't think about it," he says into a kiss. "Just enjoy what we have." He wishes and rolls into her harder again.

"You need to go harder Jack?" her rising intonation confused him for a second. He just told her she needn't worry about certain things. Some people claimed orgasms helped conception, but that was in many ways, not their goal. But her voice, told him it wasn't a statement. It was a question for him. Her eyes flicked between his, reassuring him it was okay. "It's alright, I'm fine," she whispers pecking his open jaw. "Make it real Jack," she says softly, "I want to feel you come inside me," he gasps lightly, "Jack. Make it real, like it would be if we were anywhere else but here."

He stares down at the woman of his dreams, her beauty and radiance ignored for just a second as he listened to her words and realised that she was asking him to do it the way they would any other time. _Make it real_, harder if needs be, if that's what it will take to _make it real. _She wanted to feel him, but make it worth it. He did not dare believe what he heard on one level. But little else sprung to mind as an explanation. Would this be the one and only chance they would ever have to make love together? She wanted to remember it as it would be, not as the sorry excuse that the _Others _had meant it had to be.

"Make love to me Jack, properly." She issued and smiled widely. "Come on," she whispered quietly, tickling his face with her words. "You're the sexiest man in the world…make it amazing for us…"

Jack pushes into her as slowly as ever and rocks back before he reached her end. Her head falls back against the bed and he follows it with his limp wet mouth. A few hours ago he had told this woman he loved her. He pets her mouth with an passion of lust and emotion for her. A few hours ago he had spilt his heart for her to hear. He runs his fingers through hers and then draws his hand away. With one arm he holds her securely, her body lying calmly in his steady arm. The other he pushes down to her hip and holds underneath her body, holding them together, making their join more precise, closer. A few hours ago he had only his imagination to go on…the mere image of Kate's naked body in front of him. It had been beyond a possibility, beyond a dream that this would ever happen. But here she was, her flesh pressed tightly against his. Clinging to him for support and guidance. He looks down into her eyes, their bodies urging against one another precisely. A few hours ago, he would have settled for a kiss as the most amazing thing that could happen. Was it wrong to think that this was more amazing than he could comprehend? Or should he just toss it aside, to the back of his mind with the rest of the bad things that had happened to him in the past?

He felt her swallow under his lips that caress her neck. He kisses that place again and again sucking in her lively moments that made her who she was. Freckles, all over her face, he kisses each one, touching a few with the edge of his gliding tongue. Her body moves with him freely, and for the first time they aren't having sex because they have to, they are enjoying it. Jack breaks into a smile, and she copies. His teeth gleam and her face shines with passion. She leans up and kisses his open mouth, her head cascading back to the bed, her back arching as he plummets into her core again.

Jack, initiative flooding him, pushes his hand between them and squeezes down to their joining. She closes her eyes as his fingers flutter to her clit and hover over it, the warmth, the heat oozing onto his fingers. He presses mouthfuls of air against her face as he circles her body with his bold thumb. Then he drags her to the left, a place he knew he would now never forget.

"Uhhh," she groans as he touches her precisely. Her body squeezes him tightly, and he shudders slightly, not expecting her to contract so quickly. "Ja-ack," she moans into his hair, her body urging down over him faster. Jack continues moving over the spot.

"I won't do it Kate," he breathes into her ear so quietly, she could barely here.

"What…" she moans loudly, her brow creasing, her eyes collapsing, her body pulsing. "What…" she gasps as he thumps into her harder, his thumb rolling heavier now.

"I won't…not without you." He groans, his voice hot against her neck, his lips wet on her ear lobe as he pulls away. He sucks her neck, her chin, kisses her cheek. His fingers work against her, his body still thrusting harder, his large body still following through.

"Tell me," she whispers desperately at him, she opens her eyes up to the ceiling and see's only white. She looks down at his tanned body lying over hers, entangled with hers. Their legs together, his upper body covering hers entirely. "Tell me," she repeats, hearing him pant into her shoulder, his arm bent back underneath his own body, over hers, right at their join.

"I won't come…without you." He groans and pushes her clit down hard. He feels her contract sharply around him, her back arching, but he follows her and holds himself against her firmly.

"Jack-" she moans, biting her lower lip for strength.

"It's not over," he moans, kissing her mouth and breaking apart, "it never will be Kate," his lips mumble and thread down into hers again.

"Jack-" she cries, panting with the rhythm of his hand.

"You're close," he guesses grinning and thrusts deeply inside of her, pausing in the deepest place and making her groan longingly. Even if she wasn't before, she would be then.

His fingers, long and hard made her want to burst. The tingling in her stomach had grown immensely to a burning sensation that filled her mind and made her wriggle beneath his large body. She clung to him, riding with his body as he moved in and out of her repetitively. Jack embeds himself on her breast, his tongue closing around her peaks, flicking her nipple in his mouth. His teeth crowd her, spinning her body in his mouth. She cries out in delight.

"Jack…" she gasps, sounding so desperate to tell him something. Anything, surely, could wait? Jack smiles and kisses her mouth, pausing to make sure she really was okay.

Tightening around him, he thrusts into her again, and again. Then he buries his mouth against her chest once more, the other breast, white and gleaming falling between his busy lips. His stubble scratches her and adds to the pleasure, his dark face working against her soft beige flesh. She looks down at him working, playing so hard it made her grin wildly, her hands tight around his neck now as she pulled herself up and down with him as he adjusted inside her.

Their bodies urge together in the middle, closing in around one another. His breath wheezes as he looks up, his jaw clamped as he works towards their end…

"Jack…" she calls to him and his eyes beam open and down on her. Her request met, their eyes lock as he feels her body tighten surprisingly around him and she frowns deeply, riding down further, holding her body deeply over him as she comes, her body contracting wholly. He never stops massaging her, feeling her, thrusting inside her. He takes pleasure in watching her orgasm, watching her loose herself in him, and he came, long and deep inside her, bowing his head into her shoulder turning her face with his hand so he could continue to watch her. His fingers slide down her face as he jerks inside of her, her face creases more and she contracts again, her body spinning beneath his, radiating heat.

She pants for breath, as does he as he eventually halts and lies still beside her. She blinks slowly, her eyes glassy and shiny as she focuses on Jack beside her. She leans in kissing him on the mouth closely. Still inside her, his thumb strokes her red throbbing clit, as if calming her in some way.

"Thank you," she breaths as he nuzzles closer, so their faces overlap, their lips sink into one another's face. "Thank you…" she breathes slowly, holding him inside her for as long as possible. He swallows, evidently unsure of what to say, what to do next. But she smiles confidently, and holds him to her. His mouth is ripe and red and she takes advantage of it, kissing his still lips constantly, their hot mouths clicking apart each time. She licks his upper lip and draws it back to her mouth slowly. His tongue slides first into her mouth as they embrace in a love filled kiss.

"God I love you," he moans and rolls her onto her back again, covering her completely again. "I love you," he says taking her face in his hands and kissing her from every angle repeating the declaration over and over again. Eventually he stops and holds her still staring longingly into her eyes.

He draws their faces together, their foreheads meeting. She tries to touch his lips but he holds her still. He draws in a slow long breath and tips his head slightly to the side. He can't believe what he is about to say, but he realises he is going to say it anyway. He had to.

"I promise." He shakes, scaring her slightly, "I'm going to save you."

* * *

That's it so far. I'm definately developing further ideas to make it continue. Hey .. if you review .. i'll write some more!!

Emi


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone:)

Update: **A Shade of Hope - Chapter 3**

Remember **not** to read if you find this sort of thing offensive: **Adult Content/Language** in some chapters of this fiction. (Mainly angst here though!)

Thanks for the great reviews so far, i'm really happy to say i am loving writing this fanfic .. its the most intreguing i have written in a while, but of course i will try and stick to my roots and aim for a 'happy ever after' because they never get old do they!!

Please enjoy and pretty-please review some more!!

Emi**

* * *

**

**A Shade of Hope**

**by Emily Louise**

Chapter 3

He wasn't sure how he was going to manage this but he meant it all the same. All too suddenly it was slipping away from him though when Kate's eyes roll back into her head, the whites in her eyes glaring at him, blinding him.

"Kate?" he shakes, his hands sliding to her shoulders. He shakes her roughly until her head falls back and forth. "Kate! Kate…" he says over and over again, his voice hoarse. He slips out of her, climbs up and straddles her, his legs taking the weight. "Kate wake up!" She starts shaking uncontrollably, her arms slipping off the sides of the bed as she shudders, and rather than waking her, he has to support her.

"Someone…someone help!" Jack hears himself calling taking hold of her head he leans down to her mouth, listening for breathing. He collects her hand roughly in his, searching for her wrist, a faint pulse.

"Kate!" he yells, eyes blazing, senses alert as he jumps off the bed and turns her on her side. As soon as he does she is sick, the fluid pouring yellow and frothing from her mouth. "Jeesus? Jesus Kate?" he cries holding her unconscious body on her side, his arms gripping her tighter to steady her. He then slides his hand beneath her head, supporting her chin. He stares into her blank face, her jerking body making him yell urgently for help. Seeing her eyes roll back, her mouth spurt with liquid, some alternative force take over her seconds after he did this to her, made him panic. "Kate, Kate talk to me?" he whispers, crouching by her face. He slides his finger into her mouth and checks for obstructions. He does it again, again, checking over and over just to be sure. Sure of what? Himself?

"All right Shepherd, step back." The door behind him was open. Ben was walking in with his crutch loose in one hand.

"You have to help her!" Jack yells turning for the shortest amount of time he could spare. He supports her, waiting for Ben's unwise instruction. But it never comes. "What have you done?" Jack turned angrily, realising then that this was a reaction to something. "Look at her." He watched for longer this time as Ben's eyes stare down at the young dark woman fitting on the table. Watching like a hawk. He doesn't move, seven feet away at the most and he doesn't move one inch. "Fuck you!" Jack shouts and turns back to her. He shifts her slightly more on her side, "fuck you all." He mutters pressing a kiss into the side of her head. "I'm right here Kate," he says into her head, hoping she wasn't scared, desperate to know she wasn't in pain. "Right here," he mutters, taking her hands in his and kissing it strongly.

"Cut her hands." Jack ordered. "Cut her out, get her out of this room Now!" he bellows. Ben stands motionless.

A curt smile grows on his face as he watches the events straighten out in front of his very eyes.

"Are you sure that's what you want Doctor?" Jack shakes his head in despair and turns back to her. The shaking had stopped, her limbs lay deathly still now. Her white flesh more pale than ever. He strokes a strand out of her face.

"Kate," Jack breathes. "Kate. Can you hear me?" he gasps and crouches again. She lies perfectly still, a vision of beauty. He wipes her mouth with the back of his hand and wipes his hand on the bed.

"Here…" Jack turns towards the calm voice and sees Juliet approaching. She holds out another white smock in her hand.

"Juliet!" Ben argues, "what is it you think you are doing?" She doesn't turn towards her authority. She walks further forward, her eyes dancing over Jack and hands him the material. Jack stares at her. He hadn't seen her since their kiss. Since that meaningless moment that clearly was a mistake. He takes it roughly out of her hand, shakes his head with regret and turns back to Kate on the bed.

"Help her." Jack ordered, a fire burning inside of him.

"Juliet, answer me." Ben shouts, his version of control. She watches Jack walk back to Kate, he covers her completely with the smock, tucking it underneath her chin as she lifts her eyes for the first time.

"Kate," Jack calls, his eyes focussing deeply into hers. But he is drawn away when he hears the collapse of a body behind him. He finds Ben slumped into the ground at the corner of the room, unconscious. Juliet smiles and sighs with relief and waits for Jack to look from Ben's slumped figure back to her.

"Take her and leave," she explained dashing forwards, she pulls up her top and slips a transparent slip pocket from the edging of her trousers.

"What's going on?" he asks her sorrowfully, hoping there was still some sort of reliance between them. Why was he always such a fool?

"Make sure she takes one of these three times a day before she eats."

"Wait." Jack says grabbing her arms and lifting her slightly off the floor. She would be scared, but Juliet relaxes in his grasp. "Tell me what you did to her…"

"We don't have time for this Jack, if you want to live that is." she smiles serenely, almost satisfied.

"What did you do to her?" he asks again, pressing his fingers deep into her skin purposely.

"Jack," Juliet whimpers softly, her eyes trying to turn behind her. "Jack. There are camera's everywhere in here, please," she breathes sadly, forgetting intentionally to tell him that she had frozen them. Jack lowers her to the floor and returns to Kate. He picks her up, her limp body falls on him as he takes her so roughly. He pulls the smock over her head and frowns as Juliet passes the other from the floor, which she collected for him.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked scooping Kate from the bed, one arm across her back and one under her legs. "Why are we back here? What happened after the phone call?" he asked, the whole thing a blackened blur.

"I'm doing this because you saved my life," she presses the packet into his open hand and closes it. Jack shakes his head, despair and desperation all too apparent.

He follows her lead, glancing down at Ben. Who was waiting for them outside the door? What game are they trying to play now? He thinks and follows Juliet into the hallway. Empty. Was that the door, which led to Sawyer? To Claire? Was it too risky to ask to let them go too? Would Claire leave without Aaron? Should they just slip away now? While they had the chance.

"Follow the passage. Before you get to the bottom there's a door on the right. Next to the door is a hollow wall, break through it Jack." She says leading him away from the travelling lights that she arrived from.

"What will happen to her?" Jack asked, barely listening to Juliet's instructions, whilst following her every footstep. Instead he watches Kate, carefully guiding her through doorways and down the hall. Juliet closes a door behind them and turns, Jack's face awash with emotion, Kate collapsed and unconscious again in his arms. Her cheeks were flushed, her face pink. Juliet smoothes her hand down the side of Kate's face, aware of Jack's eager eyes watching her every move.

Abruptly she walks away and towards a row of lockers that she drags back to reveal a small heavy metal door.

"She'll be fine," Juliet said calmly, pulling back the door. The metal hinges sounded old and worn, but the door broke back and revealed a dark soily passageway. "A few of us have been working on this, don't stop for anything Jack. Get off the island as _soon_," she grits her teeth, "as you can." She warned him, their bodies face to face, Kate crushed in the middle. Juliet follows his worried gaze to Kate's pale face and back up to his handsome features. "The sickness isn't a reaction Jack." she explained seeing his weariness of the situation, "she has a chip sewn into the back of her head. Get rid of it."

"Is that everything?" he asks flicking his eyes back towards the door. He sees Juliet thinking, perhaps of reasons why he should stay. But there were none, he thinks looking down at Kate, his angel.

Juliet flicks her blonde hair off her face and smiles at him genuinely. "Congratulations Jack," she whispers, her voice choked. "You just became a father." At first it didn't register. There was no way she could know that so soon?

"What?" he asked softly, hearing Kate murmur, her face falling into his chest. He looks down at her, as Juliet begins to speak.

"Kate's pregnant. Her reaction to the sex is stereotypical to the medicine she was given beforehand to secure conception."

"But all the pregnant women on this island, Juliet? You said they die?"

"They did." She nods, ushering him into the doorway. "Until now." She follows him quietly into the dark shadowy hallway and closes the door slightly behind her. "Imagine a test tube baby. Made up of parts that eventually makes a perfect match."

"You implanted her?" Jack asks turning into the path ahead checking his surroundings. Kate moans lightly again and shuffles against his chest, weak and limp.

"Not exactly Jack," Juliet whispers, "Austen…Kate," she corrects looking down at her body, "is not the first to be tested. So far, three of the four women I implanted, are doing fine. They were the last woman other than myself," she adds, "on the island we…Ben had consent to use." Jack looks down at the packet he was holding.

"This will keep her alive." He waves.

"No Jack." Juliet says.

"This will keep your baby alive, and healthy in this place."

The thought bit at his mind and he decided to forget the idea just for the moment.

"And Kate?" he asked, the more important factor.

"As long as she stays healthy, like any pregnant mother, she'll be fine." There is a bang from behind them and Juliet's eyes blaze with fear. Jack takes a step into the darkness, ready to run from them now. More than ever. Hiding was no longer an option.

"Wh-what about you?" Jack dares ask and eventually she slowly relaxes.

"For the first time," she gasps, "in seven years Jack, I have done my job." She smiles down at Kate, touching her forehead motherly once more. "All I ever wanted, was to give women their children. This thing," Juliet finds Jack's eyes, "it works Jack." She breaks into laughter, tears filling her eyes. "It works." She sighs. "Now go." She begs, her shining blue eyes longing for him.

Jack turns towards the darkness, clutching to Kate more tightly than ever.

"Down the passage. When you first start to see light. There's a door on your right…next to the door," he hears her swallow behind him as she leans over his arm to whisper as the banging metal gets louder. "Your bags are outside under the grass bank on the left. Then run Jack. Get off the island. And whatever you do, don't come back."

"Why?" he whispers backing away firmly, "why are you doing this?" he asks unconvinced as to her reasoning.

"Because you deserve happiness. And keeping you here," she sighs touching the side of his face with her hand. He lets her and stares into her eyes. "Keeping you here, you will never have that." She reaches up and kisses his sweet lips, savouring the taste.

Jack turns away afterwards and smiles.

"Don't thank me Jack." She whispers at his pursed lips. He watches her grow darker against the door as he backs into the passageway and turns back one last time. "Take care of her." Juliet whispers, pulling her arms around her stomach and cradling herself as Jack walks into the rest of his life without her. "Take care of her," she whispers silently, knowing more about their baby than Kate or Jack did at that present time.

A few seconds later, the door behind her cracks open and a face slides round.

"Is it done?" the voice asks. Juliet looks back into the dark hallow hall and smiles sadly.

"Yes." She answers softly. "It's done." She turns back and walks inside, the cold breeze making her shiver.

* * *

Wow - hope you enjoyed it:) I particularly like this chapter because of all the drama ... and what the hell is going to happen next!! I have no idea:o .. any ideas feel free to review, comment and suggest so i can write some more the way you want to read it:)

Thanks again

Emily


End file.
